The Nightmare Child
by Jed Rhodes
Summary: The Eighth Doctor and his friends prepare to take on not only the most insane evil genius in history, but also the most dangerous phenomenon in existence...
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place after "The Chosen Of Zagroatia".**

--

The Doctor smiled, and turned the page of the book he was reading. "The Time Machine," by HG Welles. He sighed, and sat back, before looking around. He wasn't used to this new look for the TARDIS console yet, but it was growing on him. Growing on him a great deal. He leaned back – he didn't like the chair. He admitted that to himself happily, but, nonetheless, he could deal with it. Music was playing in the background, soft, and slow. He was in a simple black frock coat, silver waistcoat and black trousers affair, complete with white open necked shirt.

_"#This is the land of a thousand words…"_

He looked around again. Then he looked at the console – mish-mash he had found in the shed. Nothing of great value. He loved it. His greatest masterpiece.

"Doctor, sir," Daniel McKenzie said from behind him, making him start. He was wearing his uniform fatigues, minus the jacket, and he wasn't wearing his beret. The Doctor sighed, and looked behind him, at the UNIT trooper who was.

"Don't call me that," he said. "What do you want?"

"I feel as though we should return to UNIT HQ, sir," McKenzie said. "I feel as though I've gone AWOL."

"Absent without leave?" the Doctor smiled. "Ah, but, my dear Daniel – what were Colonel Strand's last orders to you?"

Daniel sighed, and shuffled.

"'Protect the Doctor'," he said.

"Exactly," the Doctor smiled. "So as long as you're here, protecting me, you're doing your job."

Daniel nodded, but still looked uncomfortable with what the Doctor was saying.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Oh, just drifting," the Doctor smiled. He flicked a switch, and looked at the scanner. "Oh, this is very unimpressive," he added. "I wish you hadn't thrown a grenade in the old console room, I liked that old console room."

Daniel shifted uncomfortably, then looked at the scanner.

"That's the time vortex?" he asked, looking at the blue and red swirly mass in interest. "Looks very interesting."

"Of course," the Doctor said. "It's the time vortex, the heart of all time travel."

"Intriguing," Daniel said. "So… where are we headed?"

"No idea," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS is in random destination mode. Sort of. Oh, it's hard to explain…"

"Then don't try," Carrie said from a doorway. She was in jeans, a t-shirt and a light blue jacket, and she was smiling. She walked over to them, and looked at the scanner. "We're going nowhere?"

"Yes, and fast," the Doctor said. "I'm not in the mood for any exploring at the moment, and frankly, even if I was, I don't know where we would go."

He sighed, and flicked another switch.

"So we're just going to wait until you're in the mood to go somewhere?" Carrie asked.

"Well," he said, "we could always set totally random controls," the Doctor began, but Daniel held up his hand.

"That is out of the question sir," he said. "It would leave us in too great risk. And my orders are to protect you."

"Yes, yes, perhaps," the Doctor nodded. Carrie said nothing, but sighed and looked around, not quite knowing what to say. The Doctor was the designated driver after all. He was standing still, and Daniel was walking off. She wandered off as well. The Doctor was muttering something behind her.

"At least we can see what's out there," he murmured. Then he flicked a switch.

The TARDIS juddered, and the Doctor grabbed on as the room tilted. Daniel ran over to him, as did Carrie.

"What happened?!" she yelled.

"I don't know!" the Doctor yelled back, flicking another switch. "I just took the TARDIS out of the Vortex for one second and…"

The room bucked again. He pulled a lever and spun a wheel, before hitting the console with his fist. Then he snarled, reached under the console, and grabbed a hammer, with which he smashed the console.

"Come on!" he screamed. "Please don't do this…"

Then the juddering stopped. He looked up, and saw the scanner. He flicked another switch, pulled another lever, and span another wheel. He looked at the scanner in half shock half wonder, then quickly shut it off.

"You do not want to see what is out there," he said, slowly. "You really don't."

"Why?" Carrie asked.

"Because there is something out there even the Time Lords are afraid of," he said, quite deliberately, with meaning behind his voice. "It's called the Nightmare Child."

"Sounds lovely," Carrie said in a voice laced with sarcasm.

"Well, it's not," the Doctor snapped. He looked at the scanner, and he must have seen something else, because he was genuinely upset.

"Oh no," he said. "Those idiots!"

He ran to the other side of the console, and pressed a few buttons, and the TARDIS began moving again – but almost immediately stopped.

"Where are we, sir?" Daniel said, grabbing his uniform jacket.

"The ship," the Doctor said.

"What ship?" Carrie asked.

"The ship that happens to be stupid enough to be studying the Nightmare Child," the Doctor said. "Come on!" the Doctor yelled. "We have to stop them, before they do something stupid."

"What is the Nightmare Child?" Daniel asked.

"A horrible space-dwelling entity," the Doctor said. "It remains in one place, and eats… matter. Nebulae, space craft… anything." He looked about as scared he had ever looked, and he wasn't often scared. "It is horrible. And now, some idiot human space craft has decided to study it."

"How d'you know its human?" Carrie asked.

"Because its name is _Enterprise_," the Doctor said, as he walked to the door. He looked at the Police Box door and shook his head, and walked out of it.

"_Enterprise_?!" Daniel said, surprised. "What is this, Star Trek?" He didn't sound horrified, so much as intrigued.

"Come on," Carrie said. "We'd better go and keep him out of trouble."

She walked out of the door, leaving Daniel on his own.

"Well," he said, sighing, "it is my job."

He grabbed his gun belt and his beret, and placed them on his person, before following the Doctor and Carrie out.

--


	2. Chapter 2

II

They were in a dank corridor, and the Doctor was tutting.

"It's a mark fifteen ship," he said. "It's an exploration craft. Very dirty, bad state of repair."

"Called _Enterprise_?" Carrie said. "That's a bit cliché, isn't it?"

"Of course," the Doctor smiled. "I think that's because the Marine Space Corps are a bunch of sentimental people. Star Trek is… well, a cultural phenomenon by your time, something of a historical relic by now. _Enterprise_ is the favourite name for spaceships. Merchants, Traders, Explorers, the Military…"

"Cool," Daniel said appreciatively. "I always loved Trek."

"Somehow it doesn't surprise me," the Doctor said wryly.

"So they just name ships after TV shows?" Carrie asked, incredulously.

"It's not so bad for the Enterprise," the Doctor told her, motioning to the ship around them. "Now, try telling the MCS _Banana Split_ and her crew that their name was fair…"

"MCS _Banana Split_?!" Daniel smirked, finding the idea absurd.

"Oh yes," the Doctor said, quite sincerely. "The MCS _Banana Split_, and her sister ships the Lollypop and the Neo were all quite helpful to me during the rather odd incident with the man who called himself Rob the Gob of planet Bob in the sector Sob…"

"The future is insane," Carrie said sagely, nodding her head wisely, trying to look as if she understood a single word the Doctor was saying, when in fact she silently believed he was talking nonsense.

"It is indeed," the Doctor agreed, a grave tone in his voice, as if it were the most serious topic in the world. "Now then, to our business, team."

"Team?" Daniel mouthed, but Carrie shushed him.

"If I know previous form," the Doctor continued, oblivious, "then there will be someone down here any moment…"

At that moment, three men in blue jumpsuits appeared from a door which said "main lift", all wielding massive space laser rifles with big targeting scanners attached – although they still looked a bit like done-up Tommy guns.

"Hold it!" the first one yelled, cliché space-trooper style.

"…now," the Doctor finished with a smile and a very slight flourish. "Hello boys."

"Who the bloody hell are you?!" one of them asked. The Doctor held out a wallet containing a very special piece of paper, and he smiled winningly.

"Dr John Bowman, space adventurer, dilettante, and general do-gooder," he introduced himself grandly. "And friends," he added, motioning to the others.

"Sergeant Morrison," the security buff said.

"Pleasure," Carrie smiled. Daniel nodded, in a (he hoped) very buff and military manner.

"What are you doing here?" one of the other guards asked.

"Take me to the Captain," the Doctor said, pocketing his wallet. "I'll explain everything there."

--

Captain James Arnold Jonathan Kirk reflected, for his second time that day, on his extreme bad luck.

His name was Captain Kirk, and he was in command of the _Enterprise_. That was the funniest thing imaginable to some people – but not for him. Mind you, his sense of humour was no good, so what was funny to him most likely wasn't to anyone else, but he didn't care, really – it still wasn't funny when everyone laughed upon him introducing himself.

What he did care about, at least at this particular moment, was the fact that three complete strangers had ended up on his ship – and worse, one of them was demanding – demanding – to see him. That did not bode well. Still, he was a Captain in the Marine Space Corp, so he acted like one.

When they were brought to the bridge, two men (one dressed like a Victorian moron, the other like a soldier, and a woman in simple jeans and t-shirt combo) he turned to them and looked about as serious as he could manage.

"Do you mind telling me who the hell you are?!" he asked, snapping slightly.

"Doctor John Bowman," the weirder man said. "Problem, Captain?"

"Yes, actually," Captain Kirk snapped. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are?! Dilettante, do-gooder, what kind of a job description is that?!"

"Mine," the Doctor smiled. Ignoring the idiot, Captain Kirk turned to the military man.

"You, retro soldier boy. Who are you?" he snapped. As he expected, the soldier snapped to attention, and saluted him smartly.

"Corporal Daniel McKenzie, United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, code 55-675 dot 563," the soldier stated, smart, disciplined. He stared at the captain for a moment, before the military element dropped. "Now who the bloody hell are you, talking to my C.O like you are?!" he added in a harsh tone.

The Captain sighed, and prepared for the laughing that he knew would come with this pronouncement.

"Captain James Kirk," he said, and sighed again at the laughter.

--

Two alien figures, one, a small humanoid in a wheelchair, one, a massive battle-tank of a creature, stood in an alien control room, talking.

The tank spoke.

"You will proceed to the Gates of Elysium," it said, its voice a loud, grating monotone. "There you will activate the Nightmare Child."

The figure in the wheelchair said nothing for a long moment, prompting the Tank to speak again.

"What will you require to make this mission succeed?" it asked, impatience evident in its tone.

"A ship," the man said, his voice soft, almost quiet, but with the same hint of electronic adjustment. "A force of three hundred combat Daleks. Older armour – we do not wish to reveal our joint hand yet. You know that the Doctor will doubtless be there."

"There is no reason to make such an assumption," the Tank stated, its voice brooking no argument.

"There is the knowledge of the Doctor," the man in the wheelchair said, ignoring the tone of the Tank, almost in defiance, but subtle, controlled, mocking. "You know his way. When our victory is assured, the Doctor comes, and shatters us. It has always been his way, and our luck."

The Tank considered this for a long time, and the man in the wheelchair waited patiently.

"You are correct," it said after a moment. "The Doctor will most likely intervene, or attempt to. Request for full combat unit granted."

"Thank you," the wheelchair bound figure smiled, humourlessly, as if humouring an errant child.

"But be warned, creator," the Tank added, its electronic voice shifting a degree downwards. "If you fail the Daleks, I shall personally Exterminate you, and all those who accompany you!"

The being – the creator – smiled again, and this time, malice was there, in its rotten teeth, its dead skin, its hollow eye sockets, and its single, shining blue eye.

"I am difficult to destroy," he smiled, almost mocking the Tank again, more openly this time. "And believe me, Emperor – if I fail, I do not intend to return."

Then Davros turned away, and drove away from the Emperor, who let him go. Both of them had much to prepare, and neither task could wait for the tasked.

--


	3. Chapter 3

III

The Doctor finished laughing, slowly, and wiped a tear from his eye.

"You have very cruel parents," he told Kirk, smiling. "I actually pity you – mind you, mine were so cruel I ditched my name completely, so…"

"What is your name?" Carrie asked, realizing that, apart from his usual pseudonym John Smith she knew nothing of the Doctors name or past.

"Bowman, for the moment," Daniel said, mindful of the need for good cover, like a good little soldier.

"Yes," the Doctor said, suddenly back to being serious. "Look, Captain, I really came here to say that you should leave. Now. Bye."

The bluntness of the statement took Kirk by surprise, so jaded by the laughter as he was.

"Why?" he asked, still shocked.

"Because otherwise, you'll all die," the Doctor smiled pleasantly, as if to soften the blow. "The Nightmare Child…"

"The what?" one of the bridge crew interrupted.

"The anomaly out there," the Doctor sighed. "Its name is the Nightmare Child, and it is a dangerous rift in Time and Space..."

"You know about it?" Kirk asked, leaning forward with an expression of great interest.

"Yes," the Doctor sighed. "I know all about it. My people studied it a long time ago."

"Your people?" the talkative crewman asked.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm not human. I am in fact an alien from a highly advanced civilization that has mapped out basically every nasty phenomenon you can think of, and says – in 'Janeiatrodellatrovella's guide to phenomena' nonetheless – that 'every single intelligent creature in existence should avoid the Nightmare Child, or else they will die a very horrible, agonizing, protracted death'. Simple enough message."

"Very," Carrie deadpanned.

"What is it, though?" Kirk asked. "What is the Nightmare Child?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Why do you need to know?" the Doctor asked.

"Because it's why we're out here," Kirk replied. "We came out here to find out everything we could…"

"…for the sake of it," the Doctor finished, now smiling again, turning to his friends. "This is why I like humans – you never say never. Ever."

"Sounds like a Bond movie," Daniel commented.

"I helped Ian Fleming write Casino Royale," the Doctor smiled. Then he turned back to Kirk. "Much as I admire your lovely line in exploring like pioneers – you'll die if you stay here."

"How can you be so certain?" the talkative crewman asked.

"Sorry, what's your name?" the Doctor asked.

"John McCoy," the crewman said.

"At least it isn't Leonard," Daniel muttered, and Carrie smirked.

"Alright, Mr McCoy," the Doctor said, ignoring them. "I can be so certain because I am an extremely old, and extremely clever alien who knows a lot – did I mention that part? – and I know a great deal about the Nightmare Child. So button it, because you certainly don't know what you're talking about."

"Here," Kirk interrupted, slightly annoyed. "I will not have you insult my crew in such a manner. Be courteous or get the hell of my ship."

"I'm _trying_ to help you," the Doctor snapped, irritably. "If you would but listen."

"You're not saying anything clearly," Kirk said. "You haven't told us why the Nightmare Kid, or whatever its name is…"

"Nightmare Child!" the Doctor snapped.

"Right – why it's dangerous, or why we should listen to you," Kirk finished.

"Because that thing is a source of unimagined power – and it's also…" the Doctor said, but tapered off. "I've said too much. You cannot understand the full power of the Child – it's beyond you."

"Why?" Kirk asked.

"There are things in this universe that have existed for countless millennia and are more powerful than your peoples Gods," the Doctor said darkly. "You do not realize…"

"Spare us the mystical mumbo jumbo," McCoy said. "Just tell us straight."

"If the Doctor could, he undoubtedly would," Daniel said. "But obviously he can't. Military secrets and all that."

"You one of his people?" Kirk asked.

"No, I am a passenger," Daniel replied, curtly.

"Me too, if anyone's interested," Carrie piped up, getting bored now.

"Nobody is, so button it," McCoy snapped at her. "And you – Doctor. You say this thing is dangerous – we've been here for hours and it hasn't done anything."

"It's asleep," the Doctor said. "Believe me, when it wakes up, you'll know."

"We will, will we?" McCoy said.

"You will for three seconds," the Doctor told him, his voice low and menacing. "Then you'll die."

"Let me discuss this with my crew," Kirk said. The Captain and his officer turned and spoke softly. The Doctor turned to Daniel and Carrie.

"So what _is_ so dangerous about the Nightmare Child?" Carrie asked.

"Like Daniel said, military secrets," the Doctor said. "I know what comes from tampering with that thing though, and it's nothing good."

"So we're here to stop it?" Carrie asked.

"To stop them," the Doctor said. "And to make sure someone else does tamper," he added grimly.

"Who?" Daniel asked.

"Why?" Carrie added.

"It's the last of my old plans, that I never got to finish," the Doctor said, mysteriously. "I died before I could implement it, and I had no allies who could help me. I had thought Grace would come, but she didn't. And Carrie – you were too inexperienced."

He sounded almost apologetic. His face was taking on a distinct air of worry and unhappiness.

"Then Daniel came, and the Library, and the Zagrites… and I knew that the time had come."

"For what?" Carrie asked. The Doctor said nothing, but almost cried.

"I used to be a manipulator," he murmured. "And I'm so very sorry, my friends… but I must be the Manipulator one last time."

"What have you done, sir?" Daniel asked.

"Taken us here to trick someone," the Doctor said. "And I wish I didn't have to."

"Why do you?" Carrie asked.

"Because it's my job," the Doctor replied.

"Doctor!" Kirk called. He and McCoy were leaning over a console screen showing a ship. "What do you make of that?"

The Doctor came over.

"Why are you asking me?" he asked.

"Because we want to know if we should warn them off," Kirk said.

"No point," the Doctor said, sighing. "I recognize that ship, and they won't listen."

"Who are they?" McCoy asked.

"The worst thing you can imagine," the Doctor told him. "The darkest fear of your species."

"Who are they?" Carrie asked, hoping to get a straight answer. To the horror of the crew, not to mention Daniel, the Doctor replied with a single, hushed word, spoken in almost a reverential tone, that was belied by the horror on the Time Lords face.

"Daleks."

--


	4. Chapter 4

IV

The Daleks. Most evil race that the galaxy had ever seen fit to spawn. All human knew of them, the enemy of all sane races, murderers, pillagers, destroyers, the perverters of nature, the butchers of Tranquil Repose, the slaughterers of Centus Four, a race nightmare from the past that had been a tale for children since the twenty first century, the invasion of Earth in the twenty second century making them real, the Dalek wars cementing them as monsters to remember, a generation marked by the word 'Exterminate', a word reviled and hated, never used on Earth again.

And now, Captain James Kirk was up against them.

"Bugger," he said, as soon as the word escaped the Doctors lips.

"One way of putting it," McCoy murmured. "They're coming closer."

"He," the Doctor corrected. "Only one person would dare come this close. One man would dare try his luck."

"Who?" Carrie asked.

"The Daleks are genetically engineered," the Doctor said, "murderers and destroyers. They reside in bonded polycarbide Dalekanium shells, and are totally utterly ruthless. But they were engineered. By one man."

"Who?" McCoy asked. "There have never been any humanoids associated with the Daleks, have there?"

Kirk was about to correct him, but the Doctor got there first. "The creator of the Daleks was one man," he said. McCoy suddenly understood, andmade a violent gesture with his hand.

"The Great Healer," he snarled.

"War criminal," Kirk muttered. "I should have known from the start."

"We all should have," the Doctor sighed.

"They're hailing," a crewman interrupted.

"Put _him_ on," the Doctor said, the odd emphasis throwing Carrie off. She watched the screen come alive, then her eyes widened at the image.

It was a man, or at least it had been. His face was wizened and wrinkled, with great age, and his eyes were gone – in their place was a blue eye in the centre of his forehead. His hand was replaced with a metal claw, and the other was merely gone, and he seemed to be dressed in a metal and leather straightjacket with giant buckles. He was in a black robotic wheelchair with silver balls dotting it. Surrounding this man were dozens of creatures with the same base, added with a tank-like top half with three appendages – one that was at Eye level, one that looked like a sucker and one that appeared to be a gun. Carrie noted that they were all white armored, with golden balls, and briefly suppressed a smile at the thought of David Beckham, but no one else on the bridge was laughing.

They were all thinking of Davros, the creator of the Daleks. The monster that had given birth to a whole race of them, and then returned. He was the one who had butchered the dead of Tranquil Repose. He was the one who had caused countless millions of deaths. Not one human on the bridge save Carrie could repress a shudder – for Daniel had read the UNIT file on Davros as well. He knew as much as the crew what evil the man was.

And then the Doctor spoke, shattering their reverie.

"Hello Davros," he said, politely. "Nice to see you back in humanoid form."

"Doctor," the man replied, his voice soft, with an electronic tinge. "It is hardly surprising to see you have come here. It is destiny."

"No, just luck," the Doctor said. "I always end up somewhere where I can defeat you. Fortunate."

"You will not defeat me this time," Davros smiled. "Although, I have learned not to underestimate you."

"Our last encounter will have taught you that," the Doctor sighed. "Misusing technology that you can't handle…"

"This time, it is technology I _can_ handle," Davros said. "The Nightmare Child is the perfect weapon."

"May I beg to differ?" the Doctor asked. "One chance – leave now and say you failed."

"If I do that, I will be exterminated," Davros said. "there is nothing, Doctor, that you can say, to convince me to leave this place now."

"Davros," the Doctor sighed, "I know you. You are vain, mad, obsessed with your own knowledge, but you are not stupid. You must know that the Nightmare Child is too much for you to handle, even with the Daleks on your side."

"The 'Nightmare Child'," Davros said, scornfully. "Typical Time Lord idiocy, giving something they cannot understand a name with which to frighten children, a boogie man tale for them to wet their beds to. I am not intimidated."

"It's more than just a name," the Doctor said, glaring at the withered scientist. "It's a fact – that anomaly is more than _just_ an anomaly."

"Then what is it, Doctor?" Davros asked, mockingly. "Alive?"

The Doctor said nothing, and Davros cackled.

"You cannot scare me away with children's tales, Doctor," Davros smiled. "I am Davros, creator of the Dalek race. Nothing can stop me now, with my creations by my side."

Kirk, now snapped beyond breaking point, stepped forward.

"If you want the anomaly, butcher," he said, voice raised in anger, "then you'll have to come through Captain James Kirk of the EES Enterprise!"

"Who are you to stand against the Daleks?" Davros asked.

"A man," Kirk said. "A human. A soldier."

Davros stared at him for a moment, then, unsettlingly enough, he laughed. It was the laughter of a maniac, a lunatic, a monster – and Carrie almost _did _wet her pants at the sheer horror of it. Davros laughed so hard that he looked in danger of running out of breath.

"You amuse me, human," he said, after he had calmed down. "You and all your kind do. You think that you can stop the full might of the hurricane with a little parasol of a spaceship? Fool." And then Davros was totally serious. "I will teach you the folly of your actions, and your words."

Davros looked at the Doctor again.

"We shall soon meet in person, Time Lord," he said, and then his voice took on an odd note. "And I look forward to it – a meeting of minds. I look forward to sitting down and discussing the anomaly – not as foes in war, but merely as men of science."

Then he smiled, which unsettled the Doctor more than anyone else, and the screen went blank.

"McCoy," Kirk said, "instruct all gunnery teams to go to battle positions. Arm all crewmen, even if they've only got handguns. Raise defense fields. Activate proton cannons."

The Doctor let the military talk sink away. Carrie came up behind him, and sat with him.

"Doctor?" she asked.

"The Nightmare Child," he murmured. "It's waking."

--


	5. Chapter 5

V

The Dalek battleship engaged its primary laser cannon, and fired a volley almost instantly. The Enterprises defence field shuddered but held, and it returned fire, firing its proton cannon at the Dalek ship, and causing the secondary hull to buckle. But the Daleks manoeuvred themselves around and fired a deadly volley that blasted the defence screen away, and then the Daleks flew. Two hundred Daleks flew straight from the ship to the main airlock.

"You may as well surrender," the Doctor said. "You'll only give them a reason to kill you."

"They'll kill us, reason or no, might as well try," Kirk replied shortly. The Doctor nodded.

"Fair enough," he said. "you're right there, they will kill you. You could try to leave…"

"And leave that madman access to that weapon?" Kirk demanded. "_you're _the one who said it was dangerous!"

"It is," the Doctor replied, a sad smile on his face. "To Davros."

"Sir," McCoy reported. "They're breaking through the defence…!"

A loud explosion ripped through the bridge. Daniel pulled Carrie down just as the ceiling caved in, and then he looked up, to see a crewman impaled on a pylon.

"Get off," Carrie said from below him. He looked down, to see himself in a… compromising position, and her looking faintly peeved.

"Don't look at where you were," he suggested.

She frowned and sat up, before getting an eyeful of the dead crewman.

"Oh," she whispered.

"I told you not to look," Daniel said.

"They'll board in a minute," the Doctor said. "You'd best try evacuating, Kirk," he added, talking to the Captain with a stern tone.

"Too late already," the Captain replied. "We can't get everyone off in time. I'm going to activate the self destruct."

"What good will that do, man?!" the Doctor asked him. "Pointless death never solved anything."

"Killing Daleks always does!" Captain Kirk said.

"Captain," McCoy said, "they'll be on the bridge in minutes!"

"All decks report contacts!" another crewman reported, a woman, frantic voiced.

"What's your name, crewman?" Daniel asked, walking up to her.

"Sarah Lancaster," she replied. "I don't want to die!" she cried, suddenly, upset obviously by the prospect. She was no more than twenty, and she didn't seem much like a marine. More like a scared child.

"Well, Sarah Lancaster," Daniel said, "I promise nothing will happen to you."

He took out his standard issue pistol, and turned to face the entrance to the bridge.

"Daniel," the Doctor said, in a warning tone, "no one need die here, not even you."

"We cannot allow the Daleks access to this 'Nightmare Child' sir," the UNIT trooper replied. "You've made it clear that it's a dangerous weapon."

"Actually," the Doctor said, looking at the Child through the viewport, "that's exactly what we're going to do."

"What?" Daniel said.

"Beg pardon?" Kirk added. "What the hell do you mean?!"

"Davros himself will want to gloat at me, so he'll be here in person," the Doctor said. "When he arrives, no shooting, we'll all surrender. And then; leave everything to me."

"What everything?!" Kirk asked. "What are you talking about?!"

"Tell me Captain," the Doctor said, suddenly getting in close to him. "Miss Lancaster's reaction. Was that normal for a trained MSC trooper?"

"No…" Kirk said slowly. "But these are not normal circumstances."

"You're trained to accept death in the field," the Doctor said. "Yet she panics and cries."

"So?" Daniel asked, feeling some sympathy for the poor girl.

"So, why do you think the Nightmare Child is called 'the Nightmare Child'?" the Doctor asked. "Common sense would say it has something to do with Nightmares!"

"Nightmares?" McCoy asked. "Yeah… we've been having some odd dreams recently!"

"You will have done," the Doctor said. "That's what it is. It's a gateway, a seepage, a Nightmare Machine designed to terrify, to subvert, to corrupt, to turn brave marines," he finished with a gesture at Lancaster, "into frightened children. It's the worst weapon imaginable, because it's even worse than that. Davros will destroy himself upon it. We have to let him."

"I understand," Kirk said, and there was undeniable relish in his voice. "Hang him with his own rope."

"A crude way of putting it, but essentially, yes," the Doctor said. "I had intended to do this to him before, when I was… younger, harder. More used to this sort of manipulation. But I never had the chance. Now, I have to finish my last plan."

At which point McCoy put in with "Daleks inbound for the bridge!"

The Doctor smiled at his companions. Carrie didn't really understand all this, but she smiled back. Daniel, on the other hand, nodded at him; it was a sound military principle. He briefly wondered what war the Doctor was fighting.

Then the Doctor turned to look at the door where, sure enough, Davros, flanked by two guards, appeared.

"Hello, Davros," the Doctor smiled.

"Hello, Doctor," the evil genius replied. "All of you, humans, are now prisoners of the Daleks, and you, Doctor, are my personal captive."

"I had no idea you felt that way Davros," the Doctor said. The evil genius narrowed his eyes.

"Rest assured Doctor," the crippled Kaled said. "You will know many agonies before you reveal the truth of the anomaly to me. Take them!"

The Daleks moved forwards…


	6. Chapter 6

When the Doctor's eyes opened again, he had a massive headache, and Davros, one of the most evil genius's ever in the history of the universe, creator of the most evil and feared species in all creation, was glaring at him. The Doctor quickly took in the room – traditional Dalek design. He wasn't surprised at the lack of imagination. He took in his own situation; tied to a table. Brilliant. Worse still, there were various implements that were obvious Dalek attachments, and even more obviously torture devices, that quite frankly looked so impractical as to only be for show. Daleks were as unimaginative as torturers as they were at anything else. He knew from somewhat unpleasant personal experience.

"Hello," he said. "How's it going? You look slightly more you than last time, or is that because the real Emperor got narky…?"

"You don't seem to have changed much," Davros noted. "Still prattling."

"Well, you know what they say," the Doctor smiled. "Always do what you're best at."

"You are 'best' at little, Doctor, save interfering," Davros said.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and smiled.

"Well," he said. "If I'm so useless, why am I here?"

Davros didn't say anything for a long moment.

"Well?" the Doctor pressed.

"Do not push me, Doctor," the Kaled scientist said. "I could kill your friends if I so chose."

"Well, of course you could," the Doctor said, and then he allowed a dangerous edge to fill his voice. "But if you did you know full well I'd make you pay for it."

Davros regarded him for a long moment, his aged, scarred face inscrutable.

"Yes," he conceded. "There is always that. You have an infuriating knack for getting in my way Doctor."

"Thank you," the Doctor smiled.

"One of these days, I'm going to kill you for it," Davros continued.

"Really," the Doctor said, his tone making his scepticism clear. He had no time for this, he knew – he had to escape, and get the humans – including Daniel and Carrie – out with him.

"But for now, you're expertise may prove necessary," Davros continued. "You seem to have a great deal of knowledge of this anomaly."

The Doctor paled. Not even Davros deserved the fate that awaited those who angered the Child…

"I really wouldn't bother with it, Davros," he said, slowly. "It's beyond your control."

"Really," Davros said. "I recall the Last time you tried that trick, Doctor…"

"You nearly died when I did!" the Doctor shouted, suddenly forgetting that he was tied down. "This thing is not some weapon. It's _alive…_"

"I doubt it," Davros said. "It's scientifically impossible…"

"You used to think life beyond Skaro was impossible," the Doctor reminded him.

"I used to be limited," Davros countered. "I used to be small. I have grown."

"Yes," the Doctor said. "You've grown ever more insane and megalomaniacal."

"And you have grown ever more prattling and idiotic," Davros snarled. "Although the first time I met you, you were far worse, I must admit."

The Doctor smiled softly. "I was all teeth and curls then, and I was sent to destroy the Daleks – and I said no."

"You said no," Davros repeated softly. "And here we are. Do you regret your decision?"

The Doctor blinked, and his smile fizzled away.

"I did once," he said after a moment. "When I decided to kill you. But… but I don't, not anymore. There's no point regretting it now."

"Fascinating," Davros said. "But… ultimately pointless nostalgia, Doctor. You and I are here for only one purpose, Doctor – the purpose of discussing the anomaly you call 'the nightmare child'."

"_I_ don't call it anything," the Doctor snapped. "It's what it is," he added, calmer now, "and what it is, is monstrous beyond any weapon or design, or anything that you can possibly imagine."

"I don't know," the creator of the Daleks smiled. "I can imagine a great deal."

The Doctor grinned at the reference, which was most likely accidental.

"You smile now, Doctor," Davros told him, but after a few hours with me, you will not be so flippant. Torturer!"

A door slid open to his right and an ivory Dalek glided in – with a brand new torturers attachment.

"New toy?" the Doctor asked, although he eyed it with some fear.

"Yes Doctor," Davros said, and smiled. "I wonder if you might tell me whether it works well or not…"

The Dalek moved closer and closer…

--

Captain Kirk swore and punched a wall. He then swore again.

Only thirty one of his crew of five hundred of the Marine Space Corps' finest troops and researchers had escaped death. His bridge crew and a few engineers. And the Doctor's friends, of course.

"We're doomed," Carrie was saying, over and over again. Daniel was saying nothing, but for some reason, he was, to all intents and purposes, quie calm and relaxed.

"The Doctor will get us out of this," he said after a moment.

"How the hell do you know?!" Kirk yelled at the UNIT trooper. Daniel gave him a filthy look.

"The Doctor is the Doctor," he said, as if explaining to a simpleton. "If anyone can save us, he can."

Kirk raised an eyebrow. Then he shared a look with McCoy, and then with Lancaster, whose face was tear stained, but now she had recovered.

"But," he said to Daniel, "what if the Doctor can't?"

Daniel looked thoughtful, but then smiled.

"He can," he insisted. And then, as an aside, he added "he has to."

--

The Doctor blinked, and opened his eyes properly. He didn't know if he had been screaming, but judging by the relish on Davros's face, he had been. He smiled softly.

"You're lucky I'm a correspondent for the good cell guide," he said. "This is awful. You'll get five slop buckets."

"Still using infantile humour to make a point, Doctor," Davros said. "How dissapointing. Now - will you tell me how to use the anomaly?"

The Doctor blinked, and considered. He felt a vague sense of unease, a vague sense of 'there's no poitn anymore', lingering somewhere in the back of his mind.

It was time.

"Alright," he said. "You've made your point. The Nightmare Child, then - hope you're listening Davros, we have a fair bit to cover..."

--


	7. Chapter 7

The Nightmare Child was not just a nickname or a fancy title or something really over the top like calling a space station that only destroyed one planet at a time "the Death Star".

It was really that dangerous. The Nightmare Child didn't destroy you with big explosions or flashy lasers or a big big bomb. It didn't destroy you with paradoxes or time destructors or neutron bombs or incineration cannons or pistols or knives or anything. It destroyed you with the one thing people, everywhere, were already destroyed by.

Fear.

It ate fear. It swelled it in a person and then ate it and the more it ate, the more the fear swelled…

It was a Nightmare, and it made you have Nightmares, and the Time Lords, when they had the power, tried to hide it at the far corner of the universe. Except hiding things at the far corner of the universe was not as easy as it ought to have been, especially with the intrepid humans running around with their brand new hyperdrive systems, their battered old ships and their more-than-willing crews. So here they were now, and here the Daleks were, on the orders of their Emperor.

The Nightmare Child had been born in the Old Times, and had doubtless been the daughter (most Time Lords believed it to be a she for mostly chauvinistic reasons, and Time Lady's did not tend to disagree) of hatred and fear personified; which might sound like semi mystical nonsense, but that really isn't the point.

The point was, there had been maniacs, in the past, once upon a silver moon, who had thought it a clever idea to try and control the Nightmare Child. And oh, so many had tried, so many had tried and so many had failed and suffered a fate worse than death.

They had been swallowed by the Nightmare Child, and once in there, nothing, no one, had ever returned, alive, dead, sane, or otherwise...

It was, in short, complete folly to be anywhere near it.

* * *

"…so it would be very clever to leave, now," the Doctor finished, looking Davros straight in the… withered eye socket. "Very clever."

Davros sat, considering. For a long time. A longer time.

"Or," he said at last, "I could be even more intelligent – and possess it. To possess such a power would set me up above all other powers, give me power over the Emperor, and give me power over my own creation."

The Doctor closed his eyes, and sighed.

"All about power, isn't it?" he whispered. "No mercy. No pity. Just hatred and death all around, power, power and more power."

"Power is the defining factor in the universe, Doctor," Davros countered. "Those who possess it, possess the ability to influence lesser beings with a share in it. If I were to possess the… Nightmare Child, as you ridiculously refer to it, then I would become invincible."

"Nothing can possess it," the Doctor replied. "Nothing can even try. It is unrelenting, merciless, pitiless. It will swallow you and eat you up, Davros."

"You prattle on Doctor, but you cannot realise that never before have the Daleks come to it," Davros said. "My creations are powerful enough to control it."

"What in the name of all the planets makes you think that?" the Doctor yelled. "You're insane! Even by staying near it, we're just giving it more power!"

"Daleks do not dream," Davros said. "Daleks do not sleep. A weapon that creates nightmares will have no purchase over them. And most importantly, Daleks do not _fear_. Nightmares are the product of lesser mind's fears and frailties. Daleks have no such frailty."

For a moment the Doctor did not answer, thinking this through, but when his thoughts reached their natural conclusion, he reacted the only way he knew how.

He _laughed._

* * *

Kirk did not like waiting around. He was a man of action, a soldier. His grandfather had fought Daleks before, and had often told stories about them.

"James my boy," he had often said, "a Dalek is death to be near. Touch them and like as not you'll be frazzled. They can't be reasoned with, they can't be stopped…"

"What are you thinking?" McCoy asked him.

"I'm trying to remember all the things my grandfather ever told me about the Daleks," Kirk said, softly. "He was a veteran of the wars. He must have told me something – he told me everything."

"Old soldiers often give the best advice," Daniel added from the corner, where he was searching for surveillance equipment. His experience with the Brigadier was what he was thinking.

"What are you doing?" Kirk asked.

"Looking for cameras," Daniel said. "They may be monitoring us."

"There's no way to disable the surveillance," McCoy said. "And even if you could, what good would that do?"

Daniel gave a sidelong glance at Kirk, and grinned. Kirk raised his head, and then he grinned too, understanding reaching him.

"If we can shut it off, a Dalek will come here," Daniel said.

"And then we can get past it," Kirk added.

"This room has audio surveillance," McCoy reminded them. "They'll have heard that."

"Actually sir," a young female engineer put in, "it sort of… doesn't. Keith – Chief Daxon meant for us to fix the audio monitor systems, but we never got around to it…"

Kirk ginned even wider, and Daniel looked at the previously subdued Carrie, who looked equally hopeful now.

"Right then," Kirk said. "What're we waiting for?"

* * *

"No nightmares?" the Doctor said. "No fears? Do you honestly believe that?"

"Why should I not?" Davros asked. "I engineered them to be free of fear."

"But you left them hate," the Doctor said. "Removing emotion isn't a system of keep that, lose that. They have _vestiges,_ Davros. And those vestiges include loyalty to their masters – hence the Supreme ones not being put down every three seconds – and, most importantly, _fear._"

"And what, pray tell," Davros said, looking daggers at the Doctor through his scarring and wrinkles, "could my Daleks have to fear?"

"Why, did they never tell you Davros?" the Doctor asked politely, innocently. "They fear me."


	8. Chapter 8

"My Daleks fear nothing," Davros said immediately. "Least of all a spineless pacifist like yourself."

"Nothing?" the Doctor grinned. "You don't know them very well then. Did they never admit to you their secret fear? They're _terrified of me!_"

Davros said nothing, but his face was impassive now. For a long moment he stared at the Doctor. The Doctor stared back with a grin.

"I engineered emotion from them," he said at last, softly. Davros's face grew even more frighteningly cold. "Completely."

"Let's test that, shall we?" the Doctor asked softly. "Call one in here, and ask it to switch off its weaponry, then, let me go and I can talk to it. We'll see if I can scare a Dalek."

Davros seemed to consider this for the longest time. Finally, he nodded, and pressed a control. A moment later, a Dalek glided into the room, ivory with golden spheres, looking straight at the Doctor.

"Dalek," Davros said. "You will obey my commands."

"I will obey!" the Dalek repeated.

"You will deactivate and eject your weaponry," Davros said. A moment later, the Dalek's gun and sucker were both detached, ejected onto the floor. Davros looked at the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows – these Daleks _were_ completely loyal to Davros. Interesting.

Davros pressed another button on his chair, and suddenly, the Doctor was released. He checked himself over, and glanced over at the Dalek. It looked at him. He stepped forwards towards it once. It didn't move. He stepped again. It didn't move.

He stepped a third time.

It moved backwards four feet.

* * *

Kirk readied himself. Behind him, McCoy and Daniel tensed.

The Dalek guard entered.

"You have damaged the monitoring system!" it exclaimed. "This is unacceptable! You will now be exterminated!"

Its gun aimed. From behind it, Lancaster, Carrie and the female engineer who had been tasked with the repair of the audio monitoring all attacked the Dalek guard, attempting to push it into a wall. The Dalek gun went off, catching a MSC officer. They pushed it against the wall, where it turned and fired again, this time killing the female engineer. Daniel swore and charged, grappling the gun before it could fire, and pulling it out of the socket, before aiming it at the Dalek's eye. It regarded him, and then the sucker shot out and grabbed his chest.

And it started squeezing…

* * *

The Dalek was quivering slightly.

"Tel me, Dalek," the Doctor said. "Do you know how many of your race's finest lie dead thanks to my actions?"

Davros was both appalled by the Dalek's reaction, and intrigued by the bravura attitude to causing death the Doctor was displaying here. It was something to be explored later.

"Eight thousand nine hundred and sixty two," the Dalek replied, an odd note in its voice.

"Exactly," the Doctor said, a feral grin hitting his face. "How does it feel, standing next to me? How does it feel?"

"Daleks do not _feel_," the creature said. The Doctor laughed, an it backed away three inches more, until it was against the back wall of the cell.

"Don't start. You hate everything," he said. "And admit it. Alone here, with me, unarmed, _defenceless,_ you're afraid. Just a little."

"Daleks do not fear," the Dalek said, although its voice suggested otherwise.

"Daleks do not fear," the Doctor repeated. "Ok. So tell me this," he continued, as he stepped closer to the creature, which was trembling more now. "Why do you stink of fear?"

The Dalek's eye swivelled to Davros.

"Help me!" it called. "Creator! Assist! Assist!"

Davros said nothing, and the Dalek's eye turned back to the Doctor, who grinned at it.

"Why don't I give you a reason to be afraid?" he said. He took one more step closer.

"Emergency! Emergency!" the Dalek called. "Dalek under attack! The Doctor is loose! It is the Doctor! Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor stepped back as the Dalek started smoking, and then grinned at Davros. He checked his jacket pockets – everything was there. He looked at the Dalek.

"My cue, I think," he said to Davros. "BOO!"

The Dalek exploded. Davros started yelling, and in the confusion, the Doctor escaped.

* * *

The Doctor had used a clever ruse to convince Davros to let him go, the Kaled scientist realised. He had destroyed the Dalek using base emotions that Davros had believed gone from their makeup. It was a flaw he would have to correct.

That the Doctor had boasted so easily about the destruction of Daleks and the carnage he had wrought surprised Davros greatly; this was not as the scientist remembered the Time Lord. Obviously this was something that would have to be investigated later.

"All Daleks," he communicated to his underlings. "The Doctor has escaped. He is to be stunned and returned to me here." He thought for a long moment. "The Marine Space Corps crew and the Doctor's companions are no longer necessary. Exterminate them."


End file.
